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Ch. IX.]
VALPERGA.
179
CHAPTER IX.
Castle of Valperga described—Friendship and Love.
"This is a well known road to me," thought Castruccio, as he rode across the plain of Lucca towards the hills of the Baths; "there is still that mountain, that as a craggy and mighty wall surmounts and bounds the other Apennines; the lower peaks are still congregated round it, attracting and arresting the clouds that pause on their summits, and then slowly roll off. What a splendid garb of snow these old mountains have thrown over themselves, to shield them from the tramontano[1], that buffets them all the winter long, while their black sides appear almost as the shadows of a marble statue. Looking at these hills, it
- ↑ The Tramontano is the north wind; the Scirocco the south-west; and the Libeccio the south-east.
